Who's 'in the aisle' solving problems?

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Do you know what No Budget, No Pay is? It is just that, Congressional salaries will be held until a Federal Budget is passed or they get to the end of the year. No Budget, No Pay is just a Presidential signature away from being a law after passing in both the US House and Senate.

No Budget, No Pay is brought to you by No Labels, a non-partisan citizens organization focused on “promoting a new politics of problem solving”. It is one of twelve No Labels initiatives under the new chairmanship of Gov. Jon Huntsman and W. Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. The group has evolved to become a driving force in Congress to get things done, regardless of who you send to Washington.

No Labels, does not expect our representatives to waiver from partisan beliefs, but if you are hired for a job, you need to get the work done. The massive dumbbell shift of money and ideas has created a virtual wasteland mostly devoid of compromise and common sense solutions to our problems and traversing to the other side (crossing the aisle) automatically risks re-election. So No Labels is creating a safe zone, “In The Aisle” where people with the same jobs can actually work together to solve our problems. Those with the courage to make the trek to the No Labels safe zone are the “No Labels Problem Solvers”. At the January 14th, No Labels Meeting to Make America Work, myself, one other NH resident and 1,300 others got to meet the first twelve No Labels Congressional Problem Solvers. These sitting Congressional representatives, regardless of party or beliefs, just want to be able to accomplish the tasks their constituents expect them to address.

Our generations are responsible for our current state of politics, crushing national debt and the declining value we receive from our annual investment in government. Senator Joe Manchin made that point clear when he let us know that after two years in the US Senate he has yet to sit down with peers in the opposite party to address the tasks of the US Senate. That is similar to what we learned at the first No Labels meeting two years ago, but Senator John McCain said that he is seeing hope through the No Labels actions. In his pre-recorded No Labels message, Senator McCain made it clear that “pain is no longer an option, but suffering is”. So the choice is ours, we can continue suffering on our downward spiral, driven by national apathy and partisanship or we can suck it up, get off the couch, step up to our civic responsibility and take on the pain required to restore economic and democratic health to our nation.

Hearing Senator McCain, President Clinton and others talk about getting America to take responsibility for our challenges reminded me of that motivational poster that says, competition is like Cod Liver Oil, first it makes you sick and then it makes you better. We need to brace ourselves and take that medicine that starts with all of us making the time to better manage our government, forces us to put sacred cows (the government we like) on the alter and to raise the revenue needed to cast off the economic anchor of un-manageable national debt.

One way for you to help take our National medicine is to get involved with No Labels. First, go to Nolabels.org and read up on the other initiatives, like No Budget, No Pay. These initiatives are focused on creating an environment that enables our Federal government to break free of gridlock and start delivering compromised results for the American people. In New Hampshire, we also have four Federal Representatives (two Senators and two congresswomen) who have not committed to being “No Labels Problem Solvers”. How long it takes NH to have four Problem Solvers is up to you. It will soon be a month from the No Labels meeting, how many more weeks will it take you to get the message through to our Federal delegation that we expect them to be in Washington, working to solve our problems? Yes, I am counting the days and so should you. While Vermont and Rhode Island have a big jump on us, can we be the first State where all of a Federal delegation are Problem Solvers? This is a real chance to stop complaining and to actively help move things forward, so what are you going to do?

The faster the number for No Labels Problem Solvers in Washington grows, the sooner we will start to see our National conditions improve. A first step for the No Labels Problem Solvers can be to quickly agree on three, four or five problems to address this year. This hard, measurable public commitment will drive the collaboration required for the more complex problems and provide us with a solid metric to gauge yearly accomplishments.

Your mission, if you choose to accept your Federal civic responsibility, is to get familiar with the current No Labels initiatives and then engage in whatever activities necessary to get our congressional delegation to be active and successful No Labels Problem Solvers.

Steven Borne

Founder of NH Managing

Our Government

Rye

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